The Black Panther movement made a progressive contribution to the United States and civil rights. For a person to understand what the civil rights movement was, they had to understand what political movements were involved that had a great impact on the black community. What is the civil rights movement? The civil rights movement lasted from the late 1960s to the early 1970s. But civil rights were not born then. When Abraham Lincoln was president, he signed an agreement called the Emancipation Proclamation. This proclamation aimed to emancipate all slaves and was written on paper. If they had to leave their slave jobs, they would have no place to go or money, so they continued to work for their former slave owners in order to get paid and have a life of their own. Besides Abraham Lincoln, who virtually saved the black race, many other people became involved in civil rights. They themselves created their own movement within civil rights to help give the black community freedom of speech and to stop the government from what the black community thought was racist. Rosa Parks, was a civil rights activist who was best known for the Montgomery Bus Incident. Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat to a white man who asked her to sit in the “color-appropriate” space at the back of the bus for black men and women. His disregard for the law that day became known around the world. Martin Luther King Jr. led one of the most significant boycotts in civil rights history. He was an African-American civil rights activist who delivered the “I Have a Dream” speech, recognized as one of the most moving speeches in the world. Rosa Parks, Martin L...... middle of paper ......creating equality was too ideological. The Black Panther members knew their goals were impossible to achieve. There is a movement called the “New Black Panther Party” that is tackling the problems that the Black Panthers never solved. It is possible that if the Black Panthers had tried to integrate more into the community and been less radical, their party could have lasted longer, leading to greater effectiveness. “The Black Panther Movement”. uspoliticsonline.net. NP, 2013. Web. October 11, 2013. Wood, Adrian and Nutan Rajguru. “'The Black Panther Party for Self-Defense.'” socialistalternative.org. Socialist alternative, nd Web. September 24, 2013. “Huey P. Newton.” black panther.org. JayRysse Designs, and Web. October 8, 2013.Panthers, black. Shake it in the streets. New York: Oxford UP, 1995. Electronic Library. Internet. September 27. 2013.